


Hummingbird

by hilaryfaye



Series: Careful, She Bites [1]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/F, Fem!Pitch, Femslash February, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 19:56:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hilaryfaye/pseuds/hilaryfaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“How much have you been keeping from us?” Tooth asked. “All these years we assumed you knew what you were sending us to do. But Pitch--Pitch isn’t what she once was.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hummingbird

Toothiana clasped the teeth close to her heart, darting through the night. She was the keeper of memories, who would know better than her that sometimes childhood would not be pleasant to remember?

Hot on her heels was the last person Tooth wanted to have access to those teeth. Pitch swirled through the air like smoke, her face like thunder at having something taken from her. The Nightmare Queen bared her teeth, bearing down on the fairy as a falcon does its prey. Tooth yelped when a long hand wrapped tightly around her ankle, the box of teeth almost slipping from her fingers. Pitch had Tooth in an iron grip when she began her downward spiral.

_She’s going to kill me,_  Tooth thought, still clutching the teeth.  _She’d sooner kill me than let me keep the teeth._  Tooth steeled herself and pulled her arm back, launching the gilded box through the air and into the trees below. 

Pitch howled in anger and dismay, but didn’t release her grip on Tooth, or slow their descent. Tooth felt panic truly begin to flood her. She beat her wings furiously, straining against the suicidal fall they were on. She wasn’t ready to die.

Pitch slowed at the last possible moment, bringing them to a rough halt on the forest floor and thrusting Tooth into the carpet of decaying leaves. “You idiot!” Pitch snarled, her lank black hair flying around her face. “Those teeth were mine by right.”

Tooth snarled, not about to be cowed. “If you think I’d let you remind that girl of those memories every day for the rest of her life, you’ve lost your mind.” 

Tooth scrambled backwards in the detritus as Pitch surged down on her like a tidal wave, gold eyes burning. “And who do you think kept that little girl hiding in the shadows when those teeth were still inside her skull? Who do you think taught her how to be invisible?”

Tooth scowled up at the Nightmare Queen, and saw genuine distress in those eyes. “What did you want the teeth for?” Tooth shot back, “To keep her afraid?”

“To remind her why she must be afraid,” Pitch hissed, her hands pinning Tooth down. “Would rather have her become numb to everything she’s been through? She must remember to be afraid. While she’s still afraid, she still cares to protect herself.” Pitch shoved Tooth back again, climbing to her own feet. Pitch shook her hair out of her eyes, scowling. “Now because of your stupidity I have to scour the forest for them.”

Tooth stared at Pitch, beginning to understand. “You... you were protecting her.”

“Yes, better than you ever did,” Pitch hissed. “There are reasons children should be afraid of the dark.” Pitch raised an arm, snapping her fingers to summon a Nightmare.

“Wait,” Tooth said, climbing to her feet. “Let me help you look.”

Pitch gave Tooth a cold look. “That was a rather fast change of heart, Hummingbird.” 

Tooth bit her lip. “I didn’t know.”

Pitch made a disgusted sound. “You Guardians never bothered to know anything but what you wanted to believe.” A Nightmare came out of the shadows at a gallop, scooping up its mistress. Pitch scowled down at Tooth. “If you take off with the teeth, I will find you, Toothiana.”

Tooth nodded. “And if you hurt that little girl, I’ll find you.”

Pitch’s lip curled, but she took off without another word to look for the box of teeth. Tooth could already sense the other Nightmares and Fearlings gathering at their queen’s call, slinking through the shadows. Tooth beat her wings and flitted into the night sky, skimming over the treetops in the direction she had thrown the box.

She couldn’t explain exactly why she was helping Pitch. They had been nothing but bitter enemies for... well, for centuries. Pitch had always preyed upon the teeth of the children with dark memories, but Tooth had never bothered to ask why. She had been too busy protecting them.

Another might have wondered why Tooth believed Pitch. Why shouldn’t she assume that Pitch was lying, that she meant to use the teeth for torment?

Well, it was unlike Pitch to claim any sort of noble ambition, even in lies. Tooth had seen Pitch lie before, and this did not have the same feel. Pitch, Tooth thought, was in fact being strikingly honest.

Still, when Tooth spied the box laying half-hidden under a group of ferns, it was her instinct to flee--to secret the box in the depths of her palace, where Pitch would never find it. It would be so easy, to take the teeth and run...

The fairy landed lightly in the undergrowth, pulling the box out of the dirt. She could feel eyes on her, though she couldn’t see anyone. Pitch did not trust her, any more that Tooth trusted Pitch in return. Tooth stood, cradling the box in one hand. “You don’t need to lurk, I’m not going to run.” Tooth wasn’t even sure how true that was, but she’d said it, hadn’t she?

Pitch emerged from the darkness, still astride her Nightmare. She watched Tooth warily. “You’ve been especially cooperative,” she commented.

“I swear, Pitch, if you’re lying to me--”

She was cut short by Pitch’s sharp laugh. “What forsaken reason do I have to lie to you about this?” Pitch sneered. “Don’t flatter yourself, Hummingbird, I have nothing worth lying to you about.”

That in itself was a lie, Tooth could see it in Pitch’s eyes. She clutched the box a little closer, and Pitch bristled, her gold eyes flashing. “If you must know,” Pitch said in a low voice, “I am not lying to you. I need those blasted teeth if I’m to do what I must to keep that girl safe.”

“Since when have you worried about the safety of children?” Tooth took a step back, though she knew without looking that she was surrounded by Nightmares and Fearlings. “You’ve only ever done your best to consume them with fear.”

“Fear has its place in the world,” Pitch answered. “Would you rather she allowed herself to be killed?” Pitch’s voice was harsh and raw, and Tooth knew the faraway look of remembering when she saw it. Pitch was remembering someone specific when she spoke of protecting this little girl. 

Pitch reached out her hand. “The teeth, Toothiana.”

Tooth winced, thinking of what this little girl would go through if she gave Pitch the box. She couldn’t deny the truth in what Pitch said, though. 

There were good memories nested in those teeth too, though, and Tooth wasn’t certain she could give them up. She stared at that box, and then at Pitch’s outstretched hand. “Not all of them,” she said at last.

Pitch’s eyes narrowed, not understanding. “What are you playing at?”

“There are good memories too,” Tooth said, “We’ll each take half.”

Pitch was quiet. The Nightmares snorted, pawing at the ground uneasily. Tooth shivered, wondering what Pitch would do. She could still flee, if she needed to. 

After a long moment, Pitch dismounted, her robes billowing around her. She stepped towards Tooth, her hair hanging like inky black curtains on either side of her face. “Very well,” she said, “Half the teeth.” She held out her hand, waiting for Tooth to pluck out the ones that she would take. 

Tooth’s hands shook as she opened the box. Her instinct told her she should not be doing this, that it was wrong. How could she hand over anyone’s childhood memories to Pitch? Still, she counted out half of all the teeth, dropping them in Pitch’s palm without touching her. A dry smile appeared on Pitch’s face, like paper curling as it burned. “Cavities,” she said softly, turning them over with a fingertip. 

“I’ll go now,” Tooth said, barely able to look at the teeth in Pitch’s hand. “I’ve been too long away from my fairies.” 

As she turned, Pitch caught her hand. Tooth stared at the hand grasping hers, wondering what she should be feeling. Her head told her she should shake off the grasp, but she did nothing. Pitch slowly turned her hand so that her fingers lay flat over Tooth’s palm. The two women hardly moved for several seconds.

“Thank you,” Pitch said. “For understanding.”

Tooth wasn’t sure she could say she was all that “understanding.” She glanced up at Pitch and was surprised to see misery written across the Nightmare Queen’s face. Pitch noticed her looking and the expression vanished, replaced with impassivity. She dropped Tooth’s hand, and turned back to her Nightmare with the teeth grasped tight within her fist. “I’ll be seeing you again soon, I’m sure,” Pitch said. “Let’s not play this game of hide and chase again, shall we?” 

Before Tooth could answer, Pitch and all her creatures took to the sky at a gallop. She watched them go, a smear of black against the stars.

It was a moment before she wondered if the Man in the Moon had seen any of this, and what he would say if he had.

 

If MiM had seen anything that happened that night, he said nothing about it to Tooth. Her fairies noticed nothing amiss about the box, only that their mistress seemed withdrawn into her own thoughts. 

Tooth turned over the event in her mind, analyzing every moment of it. What if she continued giving Pitch half the teeth, the ones with the dark memories? Someone would notice. What would they do to her, if they found out? She had made a deal with Pitch, handed over half of what it was she lived for... and Tooth didn’t know what to make of that.

What Tooth puzzled over most was that moment where Pitch has grasped her hand. It had been nearly tender, and the sorrow on her face had been undeniable. For the barest of moments, Pitch Black had allowed herself to be vulnerable near Tooth.

 

Pitch was staring at the teeth in her hand, frowning, when she sensed that someone who did not belong had entered her cavern. She hid the teeth in a pocket of her robes, rising to investigate. The Fearlings stirred in the shadows as she passed, sensing the intruder and preparing to consume them. She waved a dismissive hand to still her anxious creatures.

She had an idea who it might be.

“Toothiana,” she murmured, observing the Guardian from the shadows. “What are you doing here?”

Tooth turned, looking for the source of the voice. For the moment, Pitch kept herself hidden.

Tooth bit her lip, and held out her hands. Pitch stared at the narrow box. “I came to bring you more teeth.”

Pitch stood motionless in the shadows, hardly daring to believe her ears. She had hoped for reluctant cooperation, she had not expected this. 

Uncertain, Tooth pulled the box back to her chest. “I thought... you might use them.”

Pitch emerged so that Tooth could see her, and kept her face expressionless. “Why?”

Tooth could hardly look Pitch in the eye. “I only... knowing what I know now...”

The Fearlings were creeping just out of sight. Pitch waved them away. She did not need Toothiana any more anxious than she already was. Pitch waited until Tooth saw fit to land, still clutching the box of teeth. It was smaller than normal, and it took Pitch a moment to realize what it was--a box just big enough to hold half of a child’s teeth. It was made of white gold and obsidian. 

Pitch gently took the box, admiring it’s make. She could have spent an age inspecting that alone. It was beautiful.

“I brought an empty one, as well,” Tooth said, “For the other teeth.” She looked cautiously at Pitch, handing over the second box.

Pitch stared, searching for something to say. She settled on a simple, “Thank you.”

Tooth gazed up at Pitch for a moment, and fluttered up in the air again, capturing Pitch’s face in her hands and pressing her lips against Pitch’s. Pitch went still as stone, her eyes widening. Tooth pulled back, going red in the face. 

“Sorry,” she muttered. She went to fly off and nearly toppled out of the air when Pitch’s hand shot out and captured an ankle. She gave Pitch an irritated glance. “Is this going to become a thing with you? I’d rather not bloody my nose falling face first on the ground.”

Pitch smirked and let go of Tooth’s ankle long enough for her to come back to stand on her feet. She put the boxes aside, freeing her hands to cup Tooth’s face. She rubbed Toothiana’s cheek with her thumb, bending to brush her lips over Tooth’s in a chaste kiss. “Perhaps if you weren’t so quick to fly away...”

Tooth’s body went a little warm as she turned her face up for another kiss, her wings twitching. It had been a very long time since someone had kissed her. She raised a hand to Pitch’s shoulder, the sin-soft black robe warming under her palm. Pitch bit softly at Tooth’s bottom lip, and Toothiana suddenly remembered where she was and who she was kissing. She pulled back a little too quickly, and Pitch stood a moment with her hands still in the air. 

She dropped them to her sides, and Tooth watched the armor go back up, and Pitch’s face become a mask. She retrieved the boxes and turned to vanish.

“Pitch,” Tooth called.

Pitch stilled, but did not turn around.

“I—I’m sorry, it’s just that…”

“No need to explain,” Pitch said coldly. “We are what we are.” She disappeared into the shadows, and Tooth stood helplessly for a moment. A feeling of guilt curled in her belly. She only left when she noticed the shadows stirring again, and remembered that where Pitch was, so were her Fearlings. 

Tooth shot into the sky, and refused to believe that the tears stinging at the corners of her eyes were caused by anything but the wind. 

 

Pitch felt it smolder in her like a coal at her center. There was anger, there. Anger at Toothiana, the little wretch, and at herself. Anger at allowing herself to have been so weak and stupid as to believe that a Guardian of all people would have any feeling for her. And Pitch had believed it, if only for a moment.

As she paced she slashed her hand through the middle of a Nightmare, causing it to fall to dust at her feet. The Fearlings kept their distance as the Nightmare Queen paced through the cavern, two boxes held tight in her hands. She scowled down at them, mouth tight and eyes narrow. 

Why would Toothiana bring her something like this—something beautiful and so personal to her—only to push her away? She had thought… she had been certain… 

Pitch snarled, throwing them to the floor. They hit with a sound like bells, and for some reason the sweet sound only served to enrage her more. She stalked to the center of the hollow globe that stood in the exact center of her domain, sinking to sulk there. 

She understood well enough what the Guardians stood for—her own destruction. When Pitch fought them, she was fighting for her life. She should have suspected some play on Toothiana’s part… but it was not in her nature to lie. 

Pitch twirled her fingers in the air, a little figure of black nightmare sand forming in her palm. For a moment, just a moment, she hadn’t been alone. The taste had only been enough to sharpen the ache of hunger. 

She rested her chin on her hand, watching the little sand Tooth flit about. At the first swell of sadness, Pitch’s anger returned with a fire, and she crushed the figure in her hand. 

Well. The Tooth Fairy wouldn’t trick her again.

 

In the week or so following Tooth’s failed visit to Pitch, the Nightmares came with more ferocity. Tooth almost flew to Pitch in a rage over it, until she noticed one thing. The Nightmares of the children whose teeth Pitch possessed were no different than before. Only enough to keep them wary. 

So while the others prepared to fight Pitch again, Tooth was hesitant.

She remembered too well the gentle hands and soft kiss.

Her fairies, being part of herself, could tell when Tooth was troubled. They let her be by herself for a while every night while she sat outside.

Even MiM noticed that all was not well with Toothiana. He asked her what was wrong, but Tooth just shook her head. She didn’t expect MiM to understand. For MiM the world was full of certainties—that Pitch must be defeated and that the Guardians must be the ones to do it.

Tooth wasn’t so certain anymore. 

It had always been so easy, the lines had been so clearly drawn in the sand... but then Pitch told her what she did with the teeth.

“Did you know?” Tooth asked MiM. “Did you know that she protects them too? That she teaches them to protect themselves?”

MiM’s face changed, and he watched Tooth closely. “What’s troubling you?”

“How much have you been keeping from us?” Tooth asked. “All these years we assumed you knew what you were sending us to do. But Pitch--Pitch isn’t what she once was.” Tooth put her head in her hands, a deep ache blossoming inside her. She felt... betrayed. Betrayed and lost.

How many years had they made what Pitch did for the children more difficult? Children could not rely on being protected forever. Sooner or later, they would grow up... and that was where Pitch came in.

And Tooth had never before even entertained the thought. It had been so easy to assume their war was justified. So easy to believe they were in the right.

She slipped into her palace, looking for what she knew she’d find... three more narrow silver boxes. Would Pitch even take them, after what had happened? She was as unpredictable as a winter storm, Tooth couldn’t say for sure what she would find the next time she saw Pitch. 

But she had to try, for her own peace of mind.

She had to see Pitch again and... 

Tooth remembered the kiss, and the way Pitch’s face had closed to her when Tooth pushed her away. She brought her fingers to her lips, closing her eyes. What would have happened if she had just kept kissing Pitch?

Tooth clutched the boxes to her chest, imagining that long hand sliding down her throat to her shoulder, tracing over her feathers--

She stopped, shaking herself out of the reverie. No, she needed to be clear-headed now. She needed to be able to talk to Pitch, without wondering what she should have done.

 

Pitch watched a child who had been running away hurry home, already in tears about “monsters.” She dug her hands into the mane of her Nightmare, preparing for a gallop when a flash caught her eye. Pitch looked up, a frown creasing her face. It was a clear night, to Pitch’s dismay. She had felt MiM’s eyes on her since she emerged.

But he was not the creature troubling her.

Pitch masked her face, bitterness burning anew. “What do you want?”

Tooth put her feet on the ground, rather than hovering in midair. She had a small satchel at her hip, and forced herself to look Pitch in the eye. “How long have you been protecting them, and we never knew?”

Pitch pursed her lips, and didn’t answer.

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

“As if you would have listened,” Pitch scoffed. “You all would have taken me for a liar.” She turned her face away from Tooth, resentment nestled at the back of her throat. “You should not be here, Hummingbird.”

“I’m angry too, you know,” Tooth said.

That got Pitch’s attention.

“I’m angry because the Man in the Moon knew. He must have known. And he kept it from us.” Tooth reached into her bag, pulling out one of the boxes and holding it out to Pitch. “We need you. You balance us, give us something worth living for. That’s why we can really never defeat you. What use are we, without you?”

Pitch’s eyes flickered between the box and the Guardian who so willingly offered half of what she lived for. “What are you doing, Toothiana?”

“I didn’t mean to push you away,” Tooth said. “I... I just didn’t know what to think. Everything I’d fought for, for all these years... I had never known the whole truth.”

Pitch dismounted, and approached Tooth on foot. Tooth blinked rapidly, willing herself not to cry. “And I’m--I’m so angry that I didn’t know. At myself, at MiM, at the other Guardians. I haven’t been this angry since...” No, even now she would not think on that. It was many, many years ago, and there was no undoing what had been done.

Tooth was aware of Pitch standing just in front of her, but not reaching for the boxes. She was uncertain, and--Tooth caught her breath--afraid. Pitch Black was afraid.

She reached out, grasping Pitch’s wrist, and placing the box in her hand. “You should have them,” she whispered. “You should always have had them.”

Pitch stared down at the box for a long moment. When she looked back at Tooth, Toothiana reached up to touch Pitch’s cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I wish I’d known.”

Pitch didn’t move into the touch, but she didn’t pull away, either. Tooth fluttered just high enough to be eye-to-eye with the Nightmare Queen, brushing her hair away from her face. That face that was all angles and sharpness, with its crystal clear eyes and the almost cruel mouth... Pitch’s face was beautiful, in its own way. 

Tooth leaned in, pressing another soft kiss over that mouth. 

Pitch was very still for a moment, and then she reached up as well, drawing her fingers along Tooth’s cheek. Tooth ran her fingers over Pitch’s hair, her heart fluttering as Pitch responded to her kiss, slowly at first, and then possessively. She had awakened a hunger in Pitch, one that she’d barely guessed at. Tooth’s cheeks flushed and she held tight with her hands on either side of Pitch’s face. She herself was hungrier than she’d thought.

They broke for air, and Pitch tapped a finger against the end of Tooth’s nose, smiling a secret sort of smile. “Perhaps, Hummingbird, you’d be willing to resume that away from prying eyes?”

A shiver laced its way under Tooth’s feathers, as thoughts of what they could do “away from prying eyes” flashed through Tooth’s mind. 

_She would have to explain this to the others, at some point..._

She looked at Pitch’s eyes, with a flicker of mischief there. 

_...but it could wait until tomorrow._


End file.
